Vinterviews is divided into sections, each a wine resource on its own:

Reviews & Interviews of wine producers & professionals, wine retailers & services, and wine competitions & tasting events.Essays on the wine industry, focusing on business (the wine market) & production (viticulture & enology).News gleaned from leading media sources from the US and the UK.Events in wine tasting & showcasing in major metropolitan areas, with detailed highlights on those to be reviewed here.Tips on purchasing, serving, pairing wine, plus suggestions for travel to wine regions — all featuring guest writers.

Featured Reviews+Interviews

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Entrepreneur behind Blue Rock Vineyard

The surface of Alexander Valley's utmost potential as a wine region has barely been scratched. At least that's the belief of a small cadre of local producers dedicated to crafting premium Bordeaux varietal wines - of whom one is particularly adamant in his determination to help realize that promise. Kenneth Kahn, proprietor of Blue Rock Vineyard…

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Winemaker of Napa's Salvestrin

The face of the Napa Valley has changed dramatically over the last generation. During that time, scores of new wineries have been established and the resulting growth in commerce and tourism has been staggering. But in the midst of all this bustle and boom, there persists a number of small, family owned and operated vineyards whose history…

reviews : wine producers

Interview with Owner & Winemaker of Vineyard 7 & 8

Vineyard 7 & 8 is a Napa Valley winery with a mission as straightforward as its name: to produce wines of exquisite quality that accurately manifest the small vineyards from which they hail at the top of Spring Mountain. But the simplicity ends there. For as any quality-driven producer knows, turning a vision into reality…

reviews : wine producers

Interview of Napa's Swanson Vineyards

From its vantage point at the very center of the Napa Valley, Swanson Vineyards has laid witness to considerable change in the region's wine industry during its nearly twenty five years of quality-driven wine production. Having first established its reputation during the heydey of California Merlot, a grape variety that has long since fallen out of favor…

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the talent behind Spring Mountain Vineyard

Grace and Complexity. Power and Intensity. These are the discrete expressions of Cabernet Sauvignon that we tend to associate respectively with the Old and New World. Yet one Napa Valley winery, in tapping the fullest potential of its mountainside grapevines, seems to have succeeded in articulating both. In doing so, Spring Mountain Vineyard…

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Winemaker of Pride Mountain Vineyards

One striking fact with which visitors to Pride Mountain Vineyards are immediately met is that the 235-acre estate actually straddles the line between the two otherwise distinct wine producing areas of Napa and Sonoma. But while having its grapevines and facilities located on either side of that border might present a logistical challenge or two, its position at the very top of Spring Mountain allows the winery…

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Talent of Hidden Ridge Vineyard

With vine rows reaching gradiant slopes as steep as 55%, Hidden Ridge Vineyard is, without a doubt, an anomaly among grapegrowing properties in the United States. The creative scheme and audacious endeavor of owners Lynn Hofacket and Casidy Ward, it also boasts some of the densest planting of grapevines found on any hillside…

reviews : wine producers

Diamond Creek Vineyards Interview

In the epic tale behind California's wine industry, Diamond Creek Vineyards is a legend in itself. Yet little did its founder, the late Al Brounstein, know at the time he bought his land in 1968 that he would later be making lasting history with the methods he chose to craft his quality driven Cabernet Sauvignon. With a combination of keen…

reviews : wine producers

Interview of Monte- maggiore Winery

Biodynamics. Based in a holistic and largely spiritual world view, it seeks to balance the interrelationship of land with the plants and animals thriving on it as a tightly integrated and self-nourishing system. While a great deal of biodynamic principles remain unexplained and in many cases even questionable, increasingly more grape growers in the wine industry are…

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Winemaker of Super Sonoman

Many in Sonoma County would take issue with being told that their winemaking region suffers from what might be called a bit of a varietal void. But arguably, much of its reputation has been built on the quality-driven production of Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah. Can the same thing be said of Cabernet Sauvignon? In asserting the…

reviews : wine producers

Interview with a Biodynamic Expert

Biodynamic viticulture is something with which I'd already been vaguely familiar when I learned of the work of wine consultant Philippe Armenier. It was during an interview I conducted some time ago with one of his clients, who enthusiastically lauded the consultant and his practices, when I began to suspect that this once-obscure approach to winegrowing…

reviews : wine producers

Interview of Dutcher Crossing Winery

"When you step foot on it, you know you are home." With these simple words Debra Mathy, proprietor of Sonoma's Dutcher Crossing Winery, describes not only the experience she seeks for visitors to her Dry Creek Valley estate but also the very essence of her role in the wine…

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Winemaking Owner of Keenan Winery

It was with his hillside Napa Merlot that Robert Keenan's eponymous winery was planted squarely on the world's wine map twenty years ago. Since then, a new generation of ownership under his son has resulted in significant changes in vineyard practices, varietal choices, and overall business philosophy that have propelled the producer well into…

reviews : wine writers & publishers

Interview with Wine Poet Joseph Mills

As an avid city dweller who was born and raised in the urban jungle, I'm not fond of the outdoors. I don't take much of an interest in nature, barely noticing the myriad of greenery prevalent here in Northern California. But my passion for wine has compelled me a number of times to hike the sometimes steep slopes of dusty vineyards, peering…

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Winemaker of Bjornstad Cellars

Greg Bjornstad wasn't raised to be a wine lover. Yet judging from his early internship with a prestigious First Growth producer, eventual colloboration with several renowned Napa and Sonoma trailblazers, and current devotion to exploring and manifesting the utmost potential of the Burgundian grape varieties, one would think he'd been born among…

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Winemaker of Atlas Peak Winery

Throughout the 1990s, Atlas Peak Winery built and enjoyed renown in the marketplace for the Sangiovese varietal wine it produced from the elevation after which it was named. But with the new Millennium came broad changes to Napa's wine industry, not the least of which was an upsurge in the production of super-premium Cabernet…

reviews : wine producers

Interview of Garden Creek Vineyards

When we think of a garden, we're likely to imagine a small plot of land that's meticulously tended to and lovingly cared for — a testament, really, to the connection between plant and gardener. Albeit on a slightly larger scale, it's with similar attention to detail and devotion to nurturing that Karin and Justin Miller look after their own garden…

reviews : wine producers

The Hearts & Minds of Rubissow Wines

Steeped in tradition, yet focused on the future. Reverent of the land, yet driven to pushing its potential. Seasoned in experience, yet vibrant with ardor and enthusiasm. Such is the balance struck at the house of Rubissow, the Napa Valley family estate winery that runs on the disciplined vineyard management, erudite winemaking, and savvy…

reviews : wine producers

Benovia Winery of Russian River Valley

The business of wine production is frought with considerable challenges. Beyond these, launching a premium brand is a monumental undertaking requiring a tremendous amount of resources, talent, experience, planning, and above all, a clear vision for how that brand will position itself among the seemingly countless others vying for consumer attention…

reviews : wine producers

Interview w/ Napa's Kenefick Ranch

When Tom Kenefick first got into the business of growing grapes over three decades ago, he had no idea he would end up raising vines for some of Napa Valley's finest wine brands. In fact, tending the vineyard land had been a weekend endeavor for many years while he juggled a full time schedule as a neurosurgeon with the University of California…

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Founding Owner of Napa's Oakville East

The American consumer is one who heavily identifies with brands. And while super-premium wine is an agricultural product whose quality is heavily predicated on the geographical origin of its grapes, branding is nevertheless front and center in the sales strategies of most produced in this country. Yet where does the concept of terroir…

reviews : wine producers

Interview of VinRoc Wine Caves

Between the rocky soil of its hillside vineyard and the granite encountered during the excavation of its wine cave, VinRoc has had quite the solid theme of rock running through its story. I had initially met its proprietors, Kiky and Michael Parmenter, during the 2008 Family Winemakers event, whereupon I tasted wines from their small but super-premium portfolio…

reviews : wine producers

Interview with Robert Craig Winery

Expression. Location. Distinction. These, we might argue, are the core elements of a finely made wine - one that conveys a message from a particular place with a unique identity. With its wide variation of climate, soil, and topography, the north coast of California affords vintners a nearly limitless collection of stories to tell in the making of their wines…

reviews : wine producers

Interview with the Winemaker of Chalk Hill Estate

Very few premium wineries in Northern California can boast of vineyards that lie on a single estate of nearly 1,400 contiguous acres. Even fewer enjoy the advantage to their wine production afforded by an expansive landholding that features widely diverse vineyard soils and sharply varying topography. Chalk Hill Estate, however, proudly claims both. Situated within a small appellation…

reviews : wine producers

Interview with Five California Vintners

Any enthusiast will agree that wine has the potential to inspire our minds, fulfill our hearts, and arouse our souls like few other things in life do. But in experiencing the magic of wine at its best, it's not very often that we stop to think about the very people whose talent and skill are essential in making it all happen. Curious to learn firsthand about the personal…

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Try something. Try having a glass of lemonade with a chocolate chip cookie. Did you hesistate at the very idea? Now, I'm guessing you probably don't even have to go through this charade to wonder how this could even remotely be considered a good idea. And if you don't have that reaction, then by all means, try it. Now once you're past that little exercise (either virtually or in real life), push aside the glass of lemonade, and pour yourself a glass of milk and drink that with your chocolate chip cookie. Ahhhh… a little more appetizing? A bit more palatable? Of course, but you knew that, already. Okay, long story short: lemonade and chocolate (or cookies) do not go together. Why? Well, I could probably go on and on, pontificating on the reasons, touching on principles of food chemistry and taste physiology, but honestly, none of that is necessary and might even be considered overkill. Quite simply, certain tastes together are just not compatible in our mouths.

I'm a person of strong opinions, which I frequently take pleasure in expressing. But when it comes to wine, I try to exercise caution with that tendency, because I feel that the appreciation and enjoyment of wine is a very personal experience that should only be sparingly pre-empted or tainted by 'expert' advice. However, very much like art and design, even among variations of tastes, styles, and approaches, there are still some universal, often fundamental, 'rules,' if you will, about which elements work together and which ones frankly do not. Red Wine and Chocolate do not work together.

I love duck. It has long been one of my very favorite things. I love duck breast cooked just under medium with a nice crisp layer on that wonderful fat. I love duck confit, duck stock, Chinese duck and scallion pancakes, and duck skin cracklins — it's all fantastic! And while I'm professing love for things, how about pinot noir: I love the sweet and musty Carneros pinots, I love the amazing pinots coming from Oregon (I went to Willamette a few years back), and I have had my share of amazing earthy burgundy as well. Though I don't consider myself a wine expert, I know enough to know how little I know, and this makes me eager to learn and appreciate. So when I embarked on this exploration of classic food and wine pairings, I jumped on the duck and Pinot Noir idea and never looked back.

There was a time when the term "urban winery" would have been considered an oxymoron. But for wine producers who source their fruit from growers, the lack of attachment to any particular vineyard allows for a great degree of choice regarding winery location. An increasing number of them are opting to set up shop in areas that may be a distance from the nearest grapevines, but which are conveniently located, both for themselves as well as potential customers living in more urban areas. One such winery is Coterie Cellars, a newly established micro-production facility located amidst the quasi-urban sprawl of San Jose. Though I'd briefly met the proprietors, Kyle and Shala Loudon, during the 2008 Pinot Days tasting event in San Francisco, I followed up with the domestic garagistes more recently during a visit to their rather compact winery, where I learned more about the evolution of their urban endeavor.

Biodynamic viticulture was something with which I'd been vaguely familiar when I first learned about the work of wine consultant Philippe Armenier. It was during an interview I conducted some time ago with one of his clients that I began to suspect that this once-obscure approach to winegrowing was becoming increasingly practiced among premium producers. In fact, in turns out that Armenier has provided Biodynamic services to quite a long list of prestigious clients that includes Joseph Phelps, Grgich Hills, Opus One, Peter Michael, and Cain, among a few dozen other reputable wine brands up and down the west coast of the United States. And yet, it's all a far cry from where the former winemaker originally hails from the south of France, where he used to make wine under his own label — that is, until he sold the property, moved to California, and devoted his time entirely to consulting on Biodynamic farming. Since then, the expatriate's success in earning a long list of devotees has been remarkable, given that the mainstream often considers the practice to be a rather unorthodox tangent of agriculture. Skeptics notwithstanding, it appears that evidence is growing considerably in support of its efficacy, some of which I, myself, witnessed while Armenier took me on a tour to some of his clients' vineyards in the Napa Valley. It was there among the vines that I learned the capabilities of this rather unconventional strategy in the quest to make better wines.

Founding Owner of Napa's Oakville East Promotes a New Sub-Appellation— An Interview with Proprietor Elliot Stern —

The American consumer is one who heavily identifies with brands. And while super-premium wine is an agricultural product whose quality is heavily predicated on the geographical origin of its grapes, branding is nevertheless front and center in the sales strategies of most produced in this country. Yet where does the concept of terroir, or place, fit into this? Very often, producers make this secondary to the marketing of their brands. The founder of one recent venture in California, however, has taken the step not only of articulating the identity inherent in the eastern hillside of Napa Valley's Oakville — essentially sub-appellating it — but, perhaps more significantly, choosing to use its micro-terroir as the very inspiration for a brand name. I spoke with Elliot Stern about what led to the inception of his Cabernet co-op, Oakville East, and what choices went into the production of its first wine, Exposure.